Tag Archives: miles

For 17 days, a southern resident killer whale (SRKW) named J35, but better known as Tahlequah, carried her deceased baby for more than 1,000 miles. The orca's unusually long spell of grieving came to an end on Saturday, when Tahlequah was spotted in the Haro Strait off Victoria, British Columbia, chasing a school of salmon without her newborn. SEE ALSO: New dolphin-whale hybrid sea creature is the spawn of an unholy union "Her tour of grief is now over and her behavior is remarkably frisky," the Center for Whale Research (CWR) explained in a blog post online. August 11, 2018 J35 update: "The ordeal of J35 carrying her dead calf for at least seventeen days and 1,000 miles is now over, thank goodness." – Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale t.co/kQpA4WWbmgpic.twitter.com/cQIN13HgN6 — Whale Research (@CWROrcas) August 12, 2018 The CWR added that the baby's carcass has probably sunk to the bottom of the Salish Sea, meaning that researchers may not get a chance to examine it. On Jul. 24, Tahlequah's baby orca died shortly after birth, in what has been a common story for the southern resident killer whale population. Over the last two decades, 75 percent of SRKW newborns failed to survive. The last successful birth was in 2015, when two calves were born. In the hours, then days after the death, Tahlequah was spotted trying to keep her baby's head above the water's surface, reluctant to leave the body behind. "That's not unprecedented, but it’s the longest one that I’ve personally witnessed," Ken Balcomb, CWR's founder and principal investigator, toldThe Washington Post. These orcas are facing a real threat of extinction, with no successful pregnancies in the last three years. At just 75 whales, the population is at its lowest in 30 years. The SRKW's decline is linked to the reduction in population of its primary food source, Chinook salmon. Canada's government announced in May it would cut the allowable catch of Chinook by up to 35 percent to help protect the orca. WATCH: This tiny robotic spider might one day perform surgeries inside your body

Anthony Wexler, the director of the Air Quality Research Center at the University of California, Davis, packed his bags and drove his family out to the coast. They're escaping the smoke. Davis, California, sits amid a layer of wildfire smoke in Northern California. To the northwest, the largest fire in state history, the Mendocino Complex Fire, continues to burn. To the southeast, the Ferguson Fire has closed down smoke-choked Yosemite National Park indefinitely. And to the North, the Carr Fire, infamous for its towering fire tornado, still burns. SEE ALSO: California just had its hottest month on record, and that means more wildfires The air quality in the region around the fires — whose spread has been enhanced by extreme heat parching the land — is some of the worst in the world. "I decided to go out to the coast for a couple days because it was so ridiculous," Wexler said. On Wednesday, the National Weather Service illustrated how winds have lifted bounties of smoke across the entire U.S., bringing pollution even beyond the East Coast. Smoke from the western fires is making it all the way to the East Coast and beyond (at least aloft—mostly above a mile above the surface). Here's the vertically integrated smoke (HRRR model from last night). Another map showed some smoke near the surface even in New England. pic.twitter.com/0Jl6WDAFjg — NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) August 8, 2018 That said, it's not as if these smoke particles are harmful to those on the East Coast. By the time that smoke arrives in Boston and New York, the particles have been diluted with fresh air, and certainly can't be seen, nor are concentrations unhealthy. It's normal for pollution to waft from west to east across the country, just like pollution from China is regularly transported over the Pacific Ocean into the U.S. That's how air generally moves over the Northern Hemisphere, said Wexler. But it's much rarer for even low concentrations of smoke to find their way across the nation. "It doesn’t happen every day," Gabriele Pfister, deputy director of the National Center of Atmospheric Research’s atmospheric chemistry lab, said in an interview. "But, it can happen." "Normally, the pollution isn’t so great that it’s noticeable when it gets east," added Wexler. This isn't stratus this morning looking west from the @LickObservatory, it's smoke. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/dcAMDwShCG — NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) August 7, 2018 But just how bad is the air pollution in large regions of the West? "It's been like a reasonably decent day in Beijing," said Wexler. "That's really telling. It’s really awful there." "It’s unbelievable," said Pfister. She noted that planes flying over the area, as part of a National Science Foundation-funded wildfire study, have picked up some alarming pollution numbers. It's expected that particulate matter — tiny fragments of pollution 30 times thinner than a human hair — would be bad. But the flights even picked up abnormally high concentrations of carbon monoxide, an odorless gas that can be dangerous to human health in enclosed spaces, and at worse, lethal. However, some of the measured values around the fires are about 5 parts per million, or ppm, which are not considered nearly dangerous — but it's still telling. The amount of smoke over the West tonight is nothing short of astounding. pic.twitter.com/Mya0rZauMl — Dan Satterfield (@wildweatherdan) August 8, 2018 "These are values you don’t typically find near the surface in the U.S.," said Pfister. "Maybe you’ll find that if you stick your head into the exhaust of a car." It's not carbon monoxide, however, that people in burning regions need to be concerned about. One of the main factors that's figured into air quality ratings is particulate matter. Both U.S. government and university researchers have repeatedly shown that breathing this stuff is bad for your heart, as it accelerates plaque build-up in blood vessels. In some areas of Oregon, the Air Quality Index currently registers as "Hazardous." In Redding, California, where a fire tornado spun for 80 minutes last week, the air quality is rated as "Unhealthy." But out near the windswept coast, like in San Francisco, the air quality is "Good." Here is what the #smoke looked like over the Central Valley and affecting #AirQuality today. Deep smoke up to 10,000 feet AGL with multiple layers of smoke caused by transport of different #wildfire plumes. Thanks to @MBrewerWX @weather_jack #MendocinoComplexFire #CarrFire pic.twitter.com/aOlNqLLJNV — SJSU FireWeatherLab (@FireWeatherLab) August 9, 2018 It's likely that the West will be intermittently blanketed in unhealthy to hazardous air for months ahead, as the fire season is not nearly over. Rains aren't expected for months, and more temperature and fire records might be broken. Many Westerners aren't near the fires themselves. But it's harder to outrun the smoke. "In my experience, it's never been this bad," said Wexler. WATCH: A tick is spreading and making people allergic to beef

A 28-year-old woman who finally earned her “dream job” working as a grizzly bear researcher is now recovering in the hospital from serious injuries after she was attacked by one of the powerful animals

An erupting Hawaii volcano that has been belching out lava and gas could see “explosive eruptions” in the coming weeks, geologists have warned. The US Geological Survey cautioned that Kilauea volcano could blast “ballistic blocks” potentially weighing multiple tonnes as far as half a mile away. The risk of explosions is rising as a lava lake within a volcanic crater drops, which could result in water seeping in and setting off steam-driven blasts.

India’s railway ministry said Sunday a “ghastly” accident was narrowly avoided after 22 train coaches carrying some 1,000 passengers became detached from the engine and sped backwards for miles before being stopped. The runaway carriages in the eastern state of Odisha rolled for 12 kilometres (seven miles) before being brought to a shuddering halt by rocks placed on the tracks by railway staff. A spokesman for the railway ministry’s eastern division said none of about 1,000 passengers were injured in the incident Saturday night.